Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment Thailand
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Road Safety Institutional
and Legal Assessment
Thailand
SEA/Disability-8
Road Safety Institutional
and Legal Assessment
Thailand
December 2015
© World Health Organization 2016
All rights reserved.
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The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on the maps contained in this docu-
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Printed in Thailand
Contents
Acknowledgements....................................................................................................... v
Acronyms...................................................................................................................... vi
Executive Summary......................................................................................................vii
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 The Kingdom of Thailand: Country Overview................................................................. 1
1.2 Objectives....................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Conceptual Framework................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Method........................................................................................................................... 4
2. Burden of Road Traffic Injuries in Thailand .......................................................... 5
2.1 Data Sources for Road Traffic Injuries in Thailand........................................................... 5
2.2 Road Traffic Related Deaths, Injuries, and Crashes......................................................... 6
2.3 Road Traffic Injuries and Motor Vehicle Type................................................................. 8
2.4 Road Safety Risk Factors................................................................................................. 9
2.5 Economic Burden of Road Traffic Injuries in Thailand................................................... 11
3. Road Safety Management System in Thailand.................................................... 13
3.1 Organizations involved in Road Safety.......................................................................... 13
3.2 Road Safety Management System................................................................................ 16
4. Road Safety Legislation in Thailand.................................................................... 29
4.1 Legislative Branch......................................................................................................... 29
4.2 Executive Branch........................................................................................................... 30
4.3 Legislative Process........................................................................................................ 31
4.4 Special Laws under the Current Interim Constitution................................................... 31
4.5 Key Road Safety Laws.................................................................................................... 34
4.6 Road Safety Laws and Organizations............................................................................ 37
4.7 Limitations of Existing Road Safety Laws...................................................................... 39
5. Conclusions and Recommendations................................................................... 44
5.1 Recommendations........................................................................................................ 45
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand iiiPART 2
6. In-Depth Analysis of Thailand’s Road Safety Laws.............................................. 49
6.1 Speed............................................................................................................................ 49
6.2 Drink-Driving................................................................................................................. 52
6.3 Motorcycle Helmet....................................................................................................... 54
6.4 Seatbelt......................................................................................................................... 56
6.5 Child Restraint............................................................................................................... 57
6.6 Comparing Thailand’s Road Safety Laws with International Practices..........................58
6.7 Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................. 64
7. Appendices......................................................................................................... 68
7.1 Thailand’s road safety laws........................................................................................... 68
7.2 Fines for traffic violations:............................................................................................ 68
8. References.......................................................................................................... 76
iv Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandAcknowledgements
This assessment was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and commissioned by the
World Health Organization Country Office for Thailand as part of the Bloomberg Initiative
for Global Road Safety.
World Health Organization Country Office for Thailand
Liviu Vedrasco
Kritsiam Arayawongchai
Consultants
Thaweesak Taekratok
Connie Hoe
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand vAcronyms
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BIGRS Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety
DDPM Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
EU European Union
GDP Gross Domestic Product
NGO Non-governmental Organization
RTIs Road Traffic Injuries
ThaiHealth Thai Health Promotion Foundation
ThaiRoads Thailand Road Safety Observatory
TIS BS OHSAS Thailand Industrial Standards British Standards Occupation Health and
Safety Assessment Series
UN United Nations
WHO World Health Organization
Currency Equivalent
Currency Unit = Baht
US $ 1.00 = 35.8304
EUR1.00 = 40.5978
(As of October 2015)
vi Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandExecutive Summary
Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a major public health threat, causing an estimated 1.25
million deaths and about 20 to 50 million injuries each year. As a response to this
growing epidemic, the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) is providing
funding to support legislative improvements in five low-and-middle-income countries.
The Kingdom of Thailand was one of the countries selected for this project. This
assessment was commissioned by the World Health Organization as part of the BIGRS
project to facilitate a common understanding of the organizations involved in road safety
legislations and regulations in Thailand and to provide a comprehensive assessment
of laws and regulations leading to the development of recommendations. Document
review and key-informant interviews were conducted to achieve these objectives.
The institutional assessment revealed that many organizations are currently
involved in road safety in Thailand. In order to strengthen coordination amongst these
organizations and to achieve the goals of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, a
management system was established in 2011 through an executive order (“Prevention
and Reduction of Road Accidents”). This management system is comprised of three
committees (the National Road Accident Prevention and Reduction Policy Board, the
Road Safety Directing Centre and Road Safety Operating Centre) and suffers many
weaknesses. High-level politicians, for example, chair both the policy board and the
directing centre which has limited the number of times these committees can meet.
Moreover, the secretariats of the three committees are only able to coordinate; they
have no actual power or authority over the other organizations.
The in-depth legal assessment revealed that Thailand has most of the necessary
laws to address the main road safety risk factors but few of them meet international
best practices. There are important loopholes in the existing laws that need to be
closed. Furthermore, the country should also enact a child restraint law to protect child
passengers and enact laws and regulations to improve vehicle standards.
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand viiIn view of these gaps, it is recommended that the Royal Thai Government 1)
explore ways to bolster political commitment for road safety, 2) explore alternatives
for more effective management systems, and 3) establish a robust support system
for the secretariat team. In order to ensure that road safety laws are consistent with
international best practices, it is also recommended that Thailand (1) enact a child
restraint law, (2) reduce urban speed limit, (3) ensure consistency between the two speed
laws (Road Traffic Act and Highway Act), (4) lower the legal blood alcohol concentration
limit for novice drivers, (5) require rear seat passengers to wear seatbelts, (6) establish
helmet standards for children, (7) include a provision for motorcycle impoundment,
and (8) enact laws and regulations to improve vehicle standards. Moreover, it will be
critical for the country to improve the effectiveness of road safety law enforcement.
This will require stronger penalties, including significant increases of fines, adequate
equipment, effective fine collection and the establishment of a national demerit point
system. It will also entail a concerted effort to increase public awareness of road safety
and road safety laws.
Fortunately, there is clear motivation within Thailand to make a substantial effort
to reduce RTIs as evidenced by the launching of the Decade of Action for Road Safety
in the country. With such enthusiasm, it is hopeful that considerable progress will be
made through the BIGRS project and the growing national movement.
viii Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand1
Introduction
Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a major public health threat, causing an estimated 1.25
million deaths globally and about 20 to 50 million injuries each year.1,2 Unless urgently
addressed, RTIs will become the 7th leading cause of death by 2030.1 In order to tackle
this growing global public health threat, the United Nation’s (UN) General Assembly
encouraged all countries to adopt comprehensive road safety laws during the launch of
the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011–2020).3 The Bloomberg Initiative for Global
Road Safety (BIGRS) program (2015–2019) is providing funding to support legislative
improvements in five low-and-middle-income countries – China, Philippines, Tanzania,
Thailand and Vietnam. This assessment report was commissioned by the World Health
Organization (WHO), Thailand Country Office and conducted as part of the BIGRS
program in Thailand.
1.1 The Kingdom of Thailand: Country Overview
The Kingdom of Thailand is a middle-income country located within the WHO South-East
Asia Region, bordering Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. With an area of 510 890
square kilometers, it is divided into 76 provinces.4 As of 2015, the total population of
the country was estimated to be more than 67 million, with a growth rate of 0.34% and
a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of $15 600.5 The median age was 35.7 years
for males and 37.7 years for females.5 Thailand’s government is based on a constitutional
monarchy where the King serves as the head of state and the Prime Minister acts as the
head of government.6 Political instability in recent years resulted in the 2014 coup d’etat.
Currently, a junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order, rules the country.
With regards to health, basic indicators show the health of Thais has been improving.
Infant mortality rate, for example, decreased from 31 per 1000 live births in 1990 to
11 per 1000 live births in 2012. Similarly, under-5 mortality rate declined from 38 per
1000 live births in 1990 to 13 per 1000 live births in 2012.7 The current estimate of life
expectancy at birth in Thailand is 71.5 years for males and 78.5 years for females.8 The
country spends 4.6% of its GDP on health.4
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 1In 2013, the Global Burden of Disease revealed that the top three causes of death
for all age groups in the county were cerebrovascular disease, ischemic heart disease,
and lower respiratory infection; the top causes of disability adjusted life years (DALYs)
lost were ischemic heart disease, RTIs and cerebrovascular disease.8 When disaggregated
by age groups, RTIs were found to be the leading cause of deaths and DALYs lost for
Thais in the most economically productive age group -15 to 49 years.8
1.2 Objectives
The specific objectives of this assessment were to:
§§ Facilitate a common understanding of the organizations involved in road safety
legislations and regulations in Thailand. Specifically, the assessment identified
the roles and responsibilities of the key organizations to facilitate planning for
the five year project
§§ Provide a preliminary institutional legislative assessment which will be used
to inform planning
§§ Provide an in-depth technical assessment of existing legislation to identify
recommendations for improvements
1.3 Conceptual Framework
This assessment was guided by the road safety management system framework shown
in Figure 1.1 and the WHO Strengthening Road Safety Legislation Manual.9,10 First
developed in New Zealand, the road safety management system framework was adopted
by the World Bank to guide countries in their capacity assessments. The road safety
management system framework is illustrated as having three interconnected elements:
institutional management functions which create interventions that ultimately lead to
targeted results.9
Institutional management functions include seven key functions that are generally
performed by governmental organizations: results focus, coordination, legislation,
funding and resource allocation, promotion, monitoring and evaluation, and research and
knowledge dissemination. Interventions are devised to achieve results and commonly
involve transport and land-use planning for safety, safe road design and operation, safe
vehicles, safe road use, and post-crash care. Finally, a good management system requires
clearly defined results in the form of outputs, intermediate outcomes and final outcomes.
2 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandFigure 1.1: Road Safety Management System
Social
Cost
Final
Results Outcomes
Intermediate
Outcomes
Outputs
Road Network
Planning, Entry and Recovery and
Interven ons design, exit of rehabilita on
opera on, vehicles and of crash
and use drivers vic ms
Results Focus
Ins tu onal
er
on
nsf
Management on
on
ca
eva ing
tra
on
on
rce and
allo
lua
Func ons
and nitor
ina
dge
kno and
isla
mo
res ding
ord
wle
Leg
Mo
Pro
D
ou
Fun
Co
R&
Source: Bliss and Breen, building on the frameworks on Land Transport Safety Authority, 2000; Wegman, 2001; Koomstra et al, 2002; Bliss, 2004.
Source: Bill & Breen, 2013
These long-term and intermediate goals are necessary to allow for the evaluation of
interventions and ultimately the institutional management function.9
As described, legislation is one of the main functions of the road safety management
system. According to the WHO Strengthening Road Safety Legislation Manual, there are
four steps involved in the assessment of road safety laws and regulations: “(1) conduct
an institutional assessment, (2) review national laws and regulations, (3) assess gaps in
laws and regulations, and (4) assess the comprehensiveness of laws and regulations”
(p.17).10 A thorough understanding of the laws and regulations can allow for gaps to
be identified which can lead to the formulation of appropriate recommendations.10
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 31.4 Method
A two-pronged approach was used to achieve the objectives of this assessment. First,
relevant key documents were reviewed. These documents included:
§§ Executive Order “Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents 2011” from the
Prime Minister’s Office
§§ Thailand’s Road Safety Master Plan 2009–2012
§§ Thailand’s Road Safety Master Plan 2013–2016
§§ Thailand’s Decade of Action for Road Safety Strategic Plan 2012–2020
§§ Road Safety Action Plan for the Decade of Action 2015–2020
§§ Documents from Thailand’s main Road Safety committees and sub-committees
meetings (2009 to 2015)
§§ Published literature concerning Thailand’s road safety laws
Second, key informants interviews were conducted with individuals who possessed
extensive knowledge about road safety in Thailand to better understand the actual
process and operations of the road safety management system. These key informants
included the secretariat of the Road Safety Directing Centre, secretariats of three
subcommittees as well as road safety experts in Thailand.
4 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand2
Burden of Road Traffic Injuries in Thailand
2.1 Data Sources for Road Traffic Injuries in Thailand
RTIs are a grave public health concern for Thailand. Although data systems for addressing
the burden of RTIs in the country currently exist across various sectors, they suffer many
challenges. Table 2.1 reveals that there are currently ten data sources for road safety
including police information system, e-claims, trauma registries and death certificates.
These data are collected by seven agencies for different purposes and with the use of
different definitions. Although there is currently a plan to link the police, hospital, and
insurance data to improve mortality estimates, these linkages have yet to be undertaken.
Presently, the most commonly referenced data are from the Royal Thai Police.
Table 2.1: Data Sources for Road Traffic Crashes in Thailand
Data Source
Police Information System (POLIS) Royal Thai Police
TRAMS Ministry of Transport
E-Claim Road Victim Protection Company
Injury Surveillance (IS) Ministry of Public Health
Trauma Registry Ministry of Public Health
19 External Causes of Injury Ministry of Public Health
Information Technology for Emergency Medical Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand
System (ITEMS)
Emergency Claim Online (EMCO) National Health Security Office
OP/PP Individual Record National Health Security Office
Death Certificates Ministry of Interior
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 52.2 Road Traffic Related Deaths, Injuries, and Crashes
Recent data from the Royal Thai Police show that road traffic crash, injury and death
rates per 100 000 population have all been decreasing since 2007 (Figure 2.1). In 2012,
there were a total of 61 197 road traffic crashes, 110 777 injuries and 8724 deaths. Using
the 2012 population of 67 164 130 as the denominator,4 this translates to 91.1 crashes,
164.9 injuries and 13.0 deaths, per 100 000 population respectively. This death rate is
much lower than the rate estimated by the WHO (36.2 deaths per 10 000 population)1
and the rate extracted from death certificates issued by the Ministry of Public Health.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, death rates decreased between 2003 and
2009 but then increased again in 2010. In 2012 and 2013, there were 21.87 and 22.89
deaths per 100 000 population respectively (Figure 2.2).
Figure 2.1: Crash, Injury and Death Rates per 100 000 Population, 2007–2012
250.00
221.14
215.12
200.00
169.87
170.73
164.93
150.00 153.35 156.53
133.51
127.44
111.53
102.04
100.00
91.12
50.00
18.83
17.40 16.10 16.11 14.81
13.02
0.00
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Crash Rate Injury Rate Death Rate
Source: Royal Thai Police, 2007–2012; World Bank, 2007–2012
6 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandFigure 2.2: Numbers and Rates of Road Traffic Deaths, 2000–2013
16000 25
21.87 22.89
21.86
14000 21.61
20.9 20.5 21.3 20.4
19.7 20
12000
17.8
16.6
10000 15.9
15.3 15 15
8000
10
6000
4000
5
2000
0 0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of Deaths Death per 100,000 Popula on
Source: Ministry of Public Health, 2013
Table 2.2 illustrates the ratio of road traffic related injuries or deaths to the number
of crashes. Although the number of injury per crash slightly increased between 2007
and 2012, the number of fatality per crash remained relatively stable, ranging from
0.12 to 0.15.
Table 2.2: Ratio of Road Traffic Injuries or Deaths to Crashes, 2007–2012
Number Number of fatality Number of injury
Year
Crashes Deaths Injuries per crash per crash
2007 101 752 12 492 142 738 0.12 1.40
2008 88 721 11 561 146 955 0.13 1.66
2009 84 806 10 717 113 048 0.13 1.33
2010 74 379 10 742 113 862 0.14 1.53
2011 68 269 9 910 104 725 0.15 1.53
2012 61 197 8 746 110 777 0.14 1.81
Source: Royal Thai Police, 2012
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 72.3 Road Traffic Injuries and Motor Vehicle Type
Based on the most recent data from ThaiRoads, it was found that the number of
road traffic crashes among each category of motorized vehicle decreased despite the
increasing number of registered motor vehicles; between 2004 and 2013, the number of
registered motor vehicles in Thailand increased dramatically, from 19.8 to 33.5 million.11
This was most notable among public buses; the crash rate decreased from 414.7 per
10 000 buses in 2004 to 72.8 per 10 000 buses in 2012 (Table 2.3).
It is important to note that in Thailand, motorcycle riders comprised approximately
70% of road traffic fatalities12; this is substantially higher than high-income countries and
may be explained by the rapid growth of motorcycle usage in the last few decades.13
In 2013, for example, 59.6% of the country’s registered vehicles were motorcycles.12
Motorcycles tend to be more vulnerable to road traffic crashes as compared to other
types of motor vehicles. This is due to the fact that they share roads with larger vehicles
and are less visible; motorcycle riders also lack physical protection. Fortunately, the
ratio of registered motorcycles to cars has been steadily decreasing in recent years.12,14
However millions of unregistered motorcycles exist in Thailand but their exact number
and how often they are on the roads are difficult to estimate.
Table 2.3: Road Traffic Crash Rates by Motor Vehicle Type, 2012
Motorcycle Passenger Car Pickup Truck Commuter Van Public Bus Truck
Year
No. Rate* No. Rate* No. Rate* No. Rate* No. Rate* No. Rate*
2004 77 642 58.8 46 658 177.4 34 555 102.1 3 344 91.9 4 433 414.7 10 101 147.5
2005 78 830 54.2 43 527 149.9 32 862 89.7 3 718 100.8 3 954 367.1 9 026 126.0
2006 75 752 48.0 42 091 127.1 27 871 66.8 3 140 79.4 3 391 297.0 7 737 107.7
2007 68 140 42.3 40 687 114.3 28 822 65.9 2 634 69.0 2 961 245.2 6 812 91.1
2008 59 162 36.0 40 334 105.9 24 491 53.8 2 417 63.7 2 534 202.1 5 965 77.3
2009 52 608 31.5 39 275 96.3 23 650 50.4 2 218 57.8 2 370 185.8 4 954 62.6
2010 31 426 18.2 24 453 54.4 14 219 29.1 1 458 37.2 1 289 97.8 3 236 39.6
2011 19 785 10.9 16 422 32.8 8 966 17.5 899 22.3 977 72.4 1 997 23.4
2012 20 674 10.8 17 519 29.9 9 426 17.3 919 22.0 1 002 72.8 2 193 24.4
*Rate is per 10 000 vehicles
Source: ThaiRoads Foundation, 2012
8 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand2.4 Road Safety Risk Factors
Some road safety risk factor data are also available in Thailand. Data concerning three
(speed, helmets, seatbelt use) of the five main road safety risk factors as identified by the
WHO are currently being collected on an annual basis from 74 provinces by Thailand Road
Safety Observatory (ThaiRoads) with support from Thai Health Promotion Foundation
(ThaiHealth). Figure 2.3, for example, illustrates data collected by ThaiRoads on helmet
wearing in 2011. As seen in this figure, helmet-wearing rates were found to be less than
60 percent in all of the provinces except for Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Phuket.
Figure 2.3: Helmet Wearing Rates in Thailand, 2011
Source: ThaiRoads, 2011
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 9Additionally, the Royal Thai Police also conducts analysis on an annual basis to
identify the leading causes of road traffic crashes in Thailand. In 2013, speeding was
identified as the main factor (12.6%), followed by dangerous lane changing (12.2%),
driving too close to the leading vehicle (9.6%) and drink driving (6.9%) (Figure 2.4).
When disaggregated by the categories “human error,” “vehicle defects,” and “road
infrastructure and environments,” it was found that in 2013 human errors accounted
for the majority of the road traffic crashes (77.5%), followed by vehicle defects (1.3%)
and the environment (0.4%). Likewise, figure 2.5 reveals that human errors accounted
for the majority of the road traffic crashes in Thailand (63.9%) between 2006 and 2013.
Figure 2.4: Factors Influencing Road Traffic Crashes, 2013
Driving under the influence of controlled substance 0.03%
Overloading 0.05%
Hing an animal 0.14%
Driving with broken lights 0.16%
Driving with lights turned off 0.27%
Not driving in the le lane 0.54%
Violang stop signs 0.85%
Not signaling when parking/turning/slowing down 0.95%
Falling asleep at the wheel 1.03%
Violang traffic lights 1.52%
Driving in the wrong lane 2.02%
Illegal overtaking 2.56%
Not yielding to right of way 3.39%
Inexperienced/new driver 4.37%
Drunk driving 6.92%
Driving to close to the leading vehicle 9.60%
Dangerous lane changing 12.20%
Exceeding the speed limit 12.61%
Others 18.07%
0.00% 2.00% 4.00% 6.00% 8.00%10.00%12.00%14.00%16.00%18.00%20.00%
Source: Royal Thai Police, 2013
10 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandFigure 2.5: Factors Influencing Road Traffic Crashes, 2006–2013
Others, 17.50
Environments, 5.76
Vehicle defects ,
4.76
Road users , 63.90
Roads, 8.08
Source: Royal Thai Police, 2006–2013
2.5 Economic Burden of Road Traffic Injuries in Thailand
The economic burden of road traffic injuries in Thailand is immense. According to the
2015 Global Status Report on Road Safety, the country lost 3.0 percent of its GDP to
road traffic crashes.1 Data from the Royal Thai police also revealed that, on average, 328
million Baht is lost each year as a result of road traffic crashes (Table 2.4). This translates
to 0.007 percent of the national GDP.
Table 2.4: Economic Burden of Road Traffic Crashes, 2007–2012
Number of Economic loss GDP Economic loss as
Year
crashes (Baht) (Million Baht) % of GDP
2007 101 752 115 003 226 4 259 633 0.003
2008 88 721 115 185 057 4 370 056 0.003
2009 84 806 153 804 223 4 298 954 0.004
2010 74 379 361 101 087 4 395 796 0.008
2011 68 269 577 230 370 4 471 627 0.013
2012 61 197 649 152 504 4 800 209 0.014
Total 479 124 1 971 476 467 26 596 275 0.007
Average 79 854 328 579 411 4 432 713 0.007
Sources: Royal Thai Police Information Centre, 2012; Information Centre, Office of Transport and Traffic Policy,
Ministry of Transport, 2012; National Economic and Social Development Board, 2012
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 11In 2007, the Department of Highways also led a study to examine the social cost
of road traffic crashes in Thailand using the human capital approach. This method
captured costs associated with three categories: human costs, property damage costs
and general crash costs.15 As seen in the table below, the study revealed the cost per
fatal case in Thailand, for example, was between 3.9 million and 4.6 million Baht and
the cost per disability was between 4.5 million and 5.4 million Baht. When examining
Bangkok alone, the cost per fatal case was between 8.3 million and 9.7 million Baht and
the cost per disability was 9.1 million and 10.9 million Baht.
Table 2.5: Social Cost of Road Traffic Crashes, 2007
Cost per case
Cost per Cost per Cost per
Cost per fatal of property
disability severe injury slight injury
case (Baht) damage
(Baht) case (Baht) case (Baht)
(Baht)
Thailand 3 959 387– 4 503 479– 123 245– 30 289– 40 220
4 658 004 5 404 175 128 836 30 461
Bangkok 8 259 264– 9 081 183– 257 850– 135 446– 128 617
9 708 474 10 894 420 264 419 135 695
Provinces 3 721 920– 4 386 606– 116 409– 23 227– 31 178
other than 4 379 084 5 263 927 121 951 23 394
Bangkok
Source: Department of Highways, 2007
12 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand3
Road Safety Management System
in Thailand
3.1 Organizations involved in Road Safety
Road safety is a multi-disciplinary field, involving many sectors. In Thailand, several
governmental organizations are directly and indirectly involved in road safety at the
policy, management, and operational levels. The key organizations include the Royal
Thai Police, Ministry of Education, the Departments of Highways, Rural Roads and Land
Transport under the Ministry of Transport, the Department of Disease Control under
the Ministry of Public Health, the National Institute for Emergency Medicine, and the
Road Accident Victims Protection Company.
Table 3.1 summarizes the roles these eight key governmental organizations (except
the Road Accident Victims Protection Company) play in implementing road safety
activities in Thailand. The activities are categorized according to the five pillars set forth
by the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, which includes
road safety management, safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles, safer road users and
post-crash response.16 As illustrated in the table, three organizations (Royal Thai Police,
Ministry of Education and Department of Disease Control) are currently responsible for
safer road users, and two (Departments of Highways and Rural Roads) are tasked with
safer roads and mobility; no organization is solely involved in road safety management.
In addition to governmental organizations, there are also many other types of
stakeholders involved in road safety in Thailand, such as the Thai Health Promotion
Foundation, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private companies.
Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) plays a unique role in Thailand’s
road safety landscape. Established by the Health Promotion Fund Act in 2001, this
autonomous state agency is primarily funded by a surcharge levied on Thailand’s
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 13Table 3.1: Key Governmental Organizations and the Five Pillars
Pillar 2:
Pillar 1: Pillar 3: Pillar 4: Pillar 5:
Safer
Road safety Safer Safer road Post-crash
roads &
Management vehicles users response
mobility
Royal Thai Police X
Ministry of X
Education
Department of X
Highway
Department of X
Rural Roads
Department of X
Land Transport
Department of X
Disease Control
National Institute X
for Emergency
Medicine
Road Accident X
Victims Protection
Public Company
tobacco and alcohol excise taxes. In 2010, ThaiHealth’s budget was approximately
USD$ 100 million. About USD$ 9.3 million of this budget was dedicated to alcohol
control programs, USD$ 6.6 million to road safety programs, USD$ 6.5 to physical activity
programs, and USD$ 5.3 million to tobacco control programs.
The primary role of ThaiHealth in road safety is to foster collaboration between
governmental organizations and other types of stakeholders. As such, ThaiHealth
works with key governmental organizations including the Department of Disaster
Prevention and Mitigation, the Department of Disease Control, the National Institute for
Emergency Medicine, the Department of Land Transport, the Department of Highway,
the Department of Rural Road and the Royal Thai Police. ThaiHealth also supports and
sponsors the Provincial Road Safety Team, Road Safety Group, ThaiRoads, Accident
Prevention Network, Thaicycling Club, and Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation (Table 3.2).
14 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandIn addition to fostering collaboration, ThaiHealth’s funding for road safety programs
is also dedicated to advocacy, research and the dissemination of evidence. Unfortunately,
funding support for road safety has been decreasing in recent years due to ThaiHealth’s
increasing role in health promotion in the country.
Table 3.2: Organizations and Networks Supported by ThaiHealth
Description
Provincial Road Safety A multisectoral network of organizations including provincial
Team governmental organizations, universities, private organizations,
and NGOs that are working together to promote road safety at the
provincial and local levels.
Road Safety Group An organization that promotes road safety knowledge
development, utilization, dissemination, and transfer at the policy-
level and through the public media.
Thailand Road Safety A network of researchers from many institutions in Thailand.
Observatory (ThaiRoads) ThaiRoads is supported by ThaiHealth funds and aims to
disseminate road traffic injury data to all stakeholders, and
promotes and supports the use of data. ThaiRoads also monitors
and evaluates district, provincial and national level road safety
plans to ensure concrete outcomes.
Accident Prevention An advocacy network that is primarily concerned with road traffic
Network crash reduction and prevention. The objectives of this network
are to coordinate with ThaiRoads, increase road safety awareness
particularly during special times of the year (i.e New Year and
Songkran) and develop as well as improve collaborative strategies
in promoting road safety campaigns and monitoring of road safety
activities.
Thaicycling Club A club that seeks to promote walking and biking in daily life and
other activities for public benefit and peace.
Don’t Drive Drunk A foundation that seeks to prevent drinking and driving. The
Foundation specific aims are to increase awareness about the dangers of drink
driving, encourage Thai police to strictly enforce drink driving laws,
support individuals to encourage others not to drink and drive,
and promote the strengthening of laws related to drink driving.
Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP) seeks to prevent road traffic fatalities
and injuries in low-and-middle-income countries. In 2006, AIP established a branch in
Thailand and launched the Thailand Helmet Vaccine Initiative in collaboration with many
governmental organizations. Through this project, AIP trained children, teachers and
parents on the importance of helmet use, supported the government’s social marketing
campaigns, and developed model road safety communities.
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 15Safe Kids Worldwide is a global organization that seeks to prevent child injuries
around the world. Safe Kids Thailand supports numerous programs in the country that
help create safety culture among school children so that these children would develop
safe commuting habits.
Many private companies in Thailand such as Toyota, A.P. Honda, Thailand Motorcycle
Enterprise Association, Michelin, British Standard Institute, Chevron, and SCG are also
involved in road safety through their corporate social responsibility programs. Activities
often include social marketing campaigns, trainings for drivers and riders, school
education, and community projects.
3.2 Road Safety Management System
In order to strengthen coordination amongst the diverse set of organizations involved
in road safety in Thailand and to achieve the decade’s goal, a management system was
established on January 14, 2011 by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva through an executive
order known as the “Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents.” This management
system has four primary responsibilities17:
(1) Prepare the road safety master plan; this includes setting targets and measures
to be approved by the cabinet and carried out by all parties
(2) Set up unifying measures through the road safety management system
(3) Promote and support the development of road safety standards. This includes
standards for traffic management, roads, vehicle and post-crash care
(4) Promote safety culture in Thailand
This executive order also divided the management system into three levels: policy,
management, and operations.17 When comparing these three levels to the conceptual
framework, the National Road Accident Prevention and Reduction Policy Board (“the
Board”) focuses on result by setting targets for final and intermediate outcomes. The
Road Safety Operating Centre focuses on interventions and the Road Safety Directing
Centre (“the Centre”) focuses on institutional management function (Figure 3.1). It is
important to note that these “centres” are in reality boards or committees and not
actual “centres.”
16 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandFigure 3.1: Comparing the Management System with the Framework
Social Na onal Road Accident
Cost
Final
Preven on and reduc on
Results Outcomes Policy Board
Intermediate
Outcomes
Outputs
Road Network
Planning, Entry and Recovery and Road Safety Opera ng Centre
Interven ons design, exit of rehabilita on
opera on, vehicles and of crash
and use drivers vic ms
Results Focus
Ins tu onal
er
on
nsf
on
Management
on
ca
eva ing
tra
on
on
rce and
Road Safety Direc ng Centre
allo
lua
Func ons
and nitor
ina
dge
kno and
isla
mo
res ding
ord
wle
Leg
Mo
Pro
D
ou
Fun
Co
R&
Source: Bliss and Breen, building on the frameworks on Land Transport Safety Authority, 2000; Wegman, 2001; Koomstra et al, 2002; Bliss, 2004.
Source: Adapted from Bill & Breen, 2013
The Road Safety Operating Centre is mainly responsible for implementation at the
district, and local levels and is not directly involved in enacting laws and regulations. It is,
however, involved in the enforcement of laws and regulations. The structure of the Road
Safety Operating Centre can vary depending on the issue or interest of provinces, districts
and/or local administrations. As such, only the National Road Accident Prevention and
Reduction Policy Board and the Road Safety Directing Centre are described in detail in
Boxes 1 and 2.
Limitations of the Management System
Although the establishment of a management system is a positive step towards
addressing road safety, this system suffers many weaknesses common to the country’s
governmental management system. Table 3.3 compares these two systems using the
four main structural problems identified by Voradech Jantarason in his study “The
Expansion of Government Agencies in Thai Government Management System:” 1) lack
of continuity in meetings, 2) the presence of key agencies with roles in all committees,
3) the Prime Minister serving as the chair of many committees, and 4) the presence of
organizations with no real tasks or roles in the committees.18
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 17Box 1: National Road Accident Prevention and Reduction Policy Board (“the Board”)
Position Assigned Member
Chair Prime Minister or Assigned Deputy Prime Minister
Vice-chair Minister of Interior
Minister of Transport
Minister of Justice
Minister of Public Health
Minister of Education
Public Sector Member Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister Office
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Transport
Permanent Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Justice
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Labour
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Public Health
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Industry
Secretary General for the Office of the Council of State
Secretary General for the Office of the National Economic and
Social Development Board
Secretary General for the Office of the Public Sector
Development Commission
Director Bureau of the Budget
Attorney General
Royal Thai Police Commissioner General
Expert Five positions
Secretariat Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior as Secretary
Director-General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation as Deputy Secretary
Responsibilities of the Board
(1) Set road safety policies that conform to the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Master Plan as dictated by the law,
(2) Pre-approve the Road Safety Master Plan before it is presented to the Cabinet
(3) Approve all road safety strategies and plans,
(4) Issue orders, notices, and guidelines in accordance with the executive order,
(5) Provide comments or recommendations to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet,
(6) Perform other works assigned by Prime Minister or the Cabinet.
Source: Translated from the Executive Order “Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents,” 2011
18 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandBox 2: Road Safety Directing Centre (“the Centre”)
Position Assigned Member
Director Minister of Interior
Deputy Director Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Transport
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Public Health
Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education
Royal Thai Police Commissioner General
Public Sector Member Ministry of Education
Secretary-General of the Office of the Basic Education
Commission
Secretary-General of the Office of the Vocational Education
Commission
Secretary-General of the Office of the Higher Education
Commission
Secretary-General of the Office of the Private Education
Commission
Ministry of Transport
Director-General of the Department of Land Transport
Director-General of the Department of Highways
Director-General of the Department of Rural Roads
Director-General of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy
and Planning
Ministry of Interior
Director-General of the Department of Provincial
Administration
Director-General of the Department of Public Works and Town
& Country Planning
Director-General of the Department of Local Administration
Bangkok Governor
Ministry of Public Health
Director-General of the Department of Disease Control
Secretary-General of National Institute for Emergency Medicine
Ministry of Justice
Director-General of the Department of Probation
Ministry of Labour
Director-General of the Department of Labour Protection and
Welfare
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 19Position Assigned Member
Office of the Prime Minister
Director-General of the Government Public Relations
Department
Ministry of Industry
Secretary-General Thai Industrial Standard Institute
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
Director-General Natural Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation
Department
Not-under Ministry
Commissioner of Royal Thai Police Strategic Office
Director of Thai Health Promotion Foundation
Secretary-General of the Office of Insurance Commission
Director-General of the Office of the Decentralization of the
Local Government Organization Committee
Managing Director of Road Accident Victims Protection
Company
Expert Five positions
Non-government Don’t-Drive-Drunk Foundation
Organization Office of Accident Reduction Network
President of National Municipal League of Thailand
President of Provincial Administration Organization Council of
Thailand
President of Local Administration Organization Council of
Thailand
Secretariat Director-General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation as Secretary
Responsibilities of the Centre
1. Prepare recommendations, policies, master plans, strategies, and plans related to
road safety to be approved by the Board,
2. Integrate plans and budgets related to road safety of all government and other
agencies
3. Manage, monitor, mobilize, coordinate and evaluate all activities related to road
safety,
4. Set up road accident database, statistics, and reports,
5. Conduct researches related to road safety and capacity building of those working
in road safety,
20 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand6. Provide knowledge about road safety activity to the public,
7. Recommend to the board on working incentives for government agencies and
employees directly involved with road safety achievements,
8. Provide written reports about the road safety situation in Thailand to Prime
Minister and the Cabinet,
9. Recommend to the board for necessary order, notice, and guideline to facilitate
this Executive Order more effectively,
10. Enquire representative from agency or individual for fact or opinion as related to
this Executive Order,
11. Interpret and conclude any issue related to this Executive Order,
12. Set up subcommittee or working group as necessary,
13. Other works assigned by the Board
Source: Translated from the Executive Order “Prevention and Reduction of Road Accidents,” 2011
As illustrated in Table 3.3, the aforementioned road safety committees are primarily
led by high-level politicians who are also members of hundreds of other committees
in the country. The Prime Minister, for example, currently chairs “the Board” and
more than five hundred additional committees. Consequently, it is often challenging
for these road safety committees to convene and for most of the members to attend.
Since its inception in 2011, “the Board” has only met twice and the Deputy Prime
Minister attended only one of the two meetings. During the most recent meeting, the
Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior served as the chair. This Deputy
Permanent Secretary also frequently chaired the Road Safety Directing Centre meetings
during the previous government.
Moreover, due to committee members’ heavy workloads and schedules, these
members, including essential ones such as the Ministry of Interior and the Bureau of
the Budget, often use substitute members in their absences. This in turn creates more
communication problems between the different departments. In many instances, the
substitute members also have to wait for approval from the administrators before
decisions can be made, causing further delays.
There are also budgetary issues. Even though most of the involved governmental
departments are members of the committees, they still experience resource limitations
within their own departments. This is as a result of the budget management structure
within the Ministries where multiple layers of approval are required. Furthermore, under
Thailand’s budgetary system, each governmental department sets its own programs
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 21Table 3.3: Thailand’s Comparing the Government Management System and the
Framework of Road Safety Management Systems
Government Road Safety
Structural Problems
Management System Management System
Lack of continuity in Some committees have not had “The Board” only met twice in
meetings any meetings in more than 2 the last 4 years
years
Presence of key Some of the high-level politicians Only representatives from
organizations with roles from key organizations (i.e. the appointed organizations
in all committees Budget Bureau, Ministry of attended road safety meetings
Interior, Royal Thai Police, and most of them have no
and Department of Public authority to make decisions.
Communication) are constantly Accordingly, those organizations
being appointed to committees, did not make any policy or
(i.e. Director General of Public implementation commitments
Communication Department was
appointed to be on about 200
committees)
Prime Minister serving The Prime Minister chairs about The Deputy Prime Minister is the
as the chair of many 500 committees. As such, it is chairperson of “the Board” but
committees very difficult to set up meetings only attended one of the two
and most of the time the Prime meetings
Minister only chairs meetings
that concerns his/her key
policies. High ranking executives
would also only choose to attend
those meetings
Presence of Many agencies are assigned An example is the Department
organizations with no to committees without being of Wildlife Conservation which
real tasks or roles in given any specific role or tasks. has rarely attended any meetings
committees They are only appointed as they since it is unclear what its role is
appear to have some capacity in road safety
and projects for the fiscal year. Most of these departments will prioritize their budgets
towards their main functions. As such, when road safety is not the main function, related
programs will not be created within those departments.
Table 3.4 compares the expected functions of a lead road safety agency with the
existing Thai system. According to the World Bank, key functions of the road safety
management system should include result-focused management, promotion, monitoring
and evaluation, as well as research and knowledge dissemination.9 As illustrated in the
table, the country recently achieved consensus on eight key road safety problem areas
22 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandTable 3.4: Analysis of the Road Safety Management System’s Functions
Tasks Institutional Role Status of Thailand
Result-focused Manage the process of One of the subcommittees is
Management governmental assessment of road responsible for this specific task, but
safety performance has no human or financial resources to
fulfill this task
Identify and bring together key Key stakeholders have been appointed
stakeholders and partners that to each level of the management
can and will deliver actual road system through the executive order
safety results
Initiate Road Safety Capacity It was identified as part of the SWOT
Assessments analysis in developing the Government
Road Safety Plan, but no actual
assessments were undertaken
Chair governmental road safety There currently exists an inter-
performance assessments ministerial committee known as “the
Board.” However, no assessments have
been reported during those meetings
Prepare reports, papers and There is an annual report issued by
bulletins reporting on road safety the Road Safety Directing Centre that
performance includes yearly situational report,
research papers and activities
Achieve consensus on key Eight key problem areas have been
problem areas in the road safety identified as part of the Decade of
management system Action for Road Safety in Thailand and
are being adopted by the government
and stakeholders
Follow up on agreed action Programs and activities are fragmented
due to the lack of funding and poor
coordination
Promotion Study and propose a long term The government has adopted a target
and far reaching road safety vision for the Decade of Action to reduce road
traffic fatality to under 10 per 100 000
population by 2020
Present the road safety vision with This is not a structured task and
government and other partners no agency has been given this
and with stakeholders and society responsibility
as a whole
Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – Thailand 23Tasks Institutional Role Status of Thailand
Encourage all ministers in the Not all ministries are represented; road
road safety partnership to play an safety is also not high on the list of
active role in creating awareness priorities for those ministries
of road safety challenges and to
promote policy initiatives in the
media
Ensure that regular information It is not clear which agency is
is available and accessible on the responsible for this although some
key road safety problems as well of this work is currently being done
as on upcoming policy initiatives by ThaiRoads with support from
to achieve results ThaiHealth
Develop in-house capacity for None
road safety promotion as well
as contracting out targeted road
safety advertising in support of
the major themes of the national
road safety strategy
Mobilize local leadership and Local administration’s role is more
support to help achieve road focused on two special campaigns,
safety goals i.e., New Year and Songkran 7-day
campaigns
Develop and fund targeted Local governments are responsible for
community road safety programs local initiatives and there currently is
and support local road safety no coordination
coordinators
Monitoring and Establish databases to identify and Databases are maintained by various
Evaluation monitor final outcomes and their agencies including police, hospital,
outputs insurance, road authorities and land
transport authority. These agencies
use different definitions and sets of
parameters
Establish links between police Currently, there is a plan to link police,
reports and hospital admissions hospital, and insurance data to gain a
data so as to assess levels of more accurate estimate of road fatality
underreporting
Conduct before and after studies None
to establish the effectiveness of
specific road safety measures
and in-depth studies to ascertain
contributory factors, and the
causes and consequences of injury
24 Road Safety Institutional and Legal Assessment – ThailandTasks Institutional Role Status of Thailand
Ensure that the results of This is being undertaken by researchers
monitoring and evaluation are at universities and not at the systems
presented and discussed at all level
levels of the road safety strategy
coordination hierarchy to improve
the focus on achieving results
Research and Ensure in-house capacity for road Currently, only ad hoc research studies
Knowledge safety research and management are being carried out by research
Dissemination as well as contract out to road universities. It is unclear which agency
safety research organizations9 is responsible for research
Establish a national road safety There is a proposal to establish a
research program to address the national road safety research program
needs of road safety strategy in the national plan but responsibilities
with annual review of needs have yet to be assigned
and consultation with external
experts9
Develop and fund demonstration Most of demonstration projects that
projects in areas which offer have been carried out were conducted
large potential for road casualty by international organizations (i.e.
reduction and use the successful Global Road Safety Partnership, Asia
results to rollout the projects on Injury Prevention) or sponsored by
national scale9 ThaiHealth with no direct link to the
management system. Limitations with
human resources and budget have
prevented the follow up or scale up of
these demonstration projects
Employ a variety of means Currently, there are numerous trainings
for training and knowledge organized by multiple agencies, which
dissemination including have resulted in fragmentation of
professional exchange and knowledge. A core set of competencies
attendance at road safety courses, for road safety professionals is needed
seminars, and workshops9
Assign specific annual budgets for Road safety is not a priority research
road safety research for in-house topic for the National Research Council
and external research9 of Thailand which means there is no
budget for road safety research studies
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